Bitter Bottle Gourd Toxicity

Bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria), colloquially known as “lauki” or “doodhi” in India, is an edible plant in the Cucurbitaceae family. Consumption of raw bottle gourd juice is common practice in India. However, little known is the fact that ingestion of raw bottle gourd juice that is extremely bitter tasting is associated with cucurbitacin toxicity. Cucurbitacin is a pheromone produced by the plant as a defense mechanism against insects and herbivores. It is responsible for imparting the bitter taste, and the associated toxicity. The exact mechanism of cucurbitacin toxicity is not well understood, however it is suspected to result in gastric erosions and increased capillary permeability, resulting in rapid onset of vomiting, diarrhea, gastrointestinal bleeding, hypotension and shock. As serum and urine concentration measurements of cucurbitacin are not readily available, bottle gourd toxicity remains a clinical diagnosis based largely on the temporal association of ingestion of unusually bitter tasting vegetable or its juice with rapid onset of symptoms. Physician awareness is therefore of paramount importance in the diagnosis of this unusual entity. We present the case of a 78-year-old woman, with no comorbid conditions, who presented to the Emergency Department (ED) with three episodes of vomiting and multiple episodes of watery loose stools soon after ingestion of extremely bitter tasting, fresh bottle gourd juice. A prompt diagnosis of cucurbitacin toxicity was made in the ED and fluid resuscitation was commenced expeditiously. However, it was noted that most physicians were unfamiliar with this entity, and therefore skeptical of the diagnosis. Our rationale in presenting this clinical case report is three-fold: 1) To create physician awareness regarding this unique clinical entity, especially among emergency physicians, as they are the first point of contact for a critically ill patient. 2) To highlight the rapid onset and progression of symptoms in cucurbitacin toxicity. 3) To emphasize aggressive fluid resuscitation and symptomatic management as the mainstay of clinical treatment.

Bottle gourd(Lagenaria siceraria) juice poisoning

BACKGROUND: Bottle gourd(Lagenaria siceraria) is popularly known as lauki, ghia or dudhi in India. Its consumption is advocated by traditional medicine healers for controlling diabetes mellitus, hypertension, liver diseases, weight loss and other diseases. However, in last few years there have been reports of suspected toxicity due to consumption of its juice leading to severe vomiting and upper gastrointestinal bleeding. As emergency physicians we need to be aware of this very rare poisoning specially in India.METHODS: We present a case of a 52-year-old woman who presented with multiple episodes of hematemesis and shock to the emergency department(ED) after consuming bottle gourd juice. The patient was resuscitated and stabilized with fl uids, proton pump inhibitors and antiemetics and shifted to the intensive care unit(ICU) under the care of a gastroenterology team for urgent endoscopy and further management.RESULTS: The patient received intravenous fluids, antibiotics, antiemetics, and antacids and underwent upper gastroenterologic endoscopy during the hospitalization. She was discharged in a stable condition 4 days later.CONCLUSIONS: As a member of the Cucurbitaceae family, bottle gourd contains toxic tetracyclic triterpenoid compounds called cucurbitacins which are responsible for the bitter taste and toxicity. There is no known antidote for this toxicity, and clinicians treat such patients symptomatically only. It is important to educate the public about the harmful effects of this potentially life-threatening toxicity.

Expression of Heterosis for Productive Traits in Bottle Gourd Hybrids

An intensive study was conducted in bottle gourd to assessment the magnitude of heterosis for yield and its thirteen yield related traits.Twenty one bottle gourd hybrids generated from 7×7 diallel cross(excluding reciprocals)along with their seven parents evaluated in a RCBD with three replication at the Olericulture Division of Horticulture Research Centre,BARI,Gazipur,Bangladesh during 2018-19.Maximun cross combinations were found significant heterobeltiosis for earliness.The maximum heterobeltiotic effect was observed in P2XP7 and P4XP7.The best heterotic cross for fruit length was P4XP5.Maximum heterotic effect in respect of fruit number per plant was found in the cross P1XP6 and P4XP6.In terms of yield the highest heterobeltiosis was shown by the crosses P3XP4,P3XP5,P4XP5 and P4XP7.In the overall analysis,both additive and non-additive gene actions were found important with predominance of the additive gene effects in the inheritance of bottle gourd.

Development of Insertion and Deletion Markers for Bottle Gourd Based on Restriction Site-associated DNA Sequencing Data

Bottle gourd is an important cucurbit crop worldwide. To provide more available molecular markers for this crop, a bioinformatic approach was employed to develop insertion–deletions(In Dels) markers in bottle gourd based on restriction site-associated DNA sequencing(RAD-Seq)data. A total of 892 Indels were predicted, with the length varying from 1 bp to 167 bp. Single-nucleotide In Dels were the predominant types of In Dels. To validate these In Dels, PCR primers were designed from 162 loci where In Dels longer than 2 bp were predicated. A total of 112 In Dels were found to be polymorphic among 9 bottle gourd accessions under investigation. The rate of prediction accuracy was thus at a high level of72.7%. DNA fingerprinting for 4 cultivars were performed using 8 selected Indels markers, demonstrating the usefulness of these markers.

Lipase inhibitory activity of Lagenaria siceraria fruit as a strategy to treat obesity

Objective:To explore pancreatic lipase inhibitory activity under different extraction conditions in order to track the most potent extract.Methods:The methanolic extract and its fractions in solvents of increasing polarity,ether,chloroform,ethyl acetate,n-butanol and water,were made through cold maceration.Extracts in ethanol,ethyl acetate,acetone and chloroform were similarly prepared.Aqueous extract was prepared through hot decoction method.A reported method was used to determine lipase inhibitory activity of extracts and fractions over wide ranges of concentrations.Results:The extracts and fractions exhibited concentration dependent activity.The IC50(μg/mL)values of methanolic,ethanolic,chloroform,ethyl acetate,acetone,ethyl acetate(after washing with water)and aqueous decoction were 293.40,266.47,157.59,182.12,352.34,257.00,and 190.00,respectively.The activity of chloroform,ethyl acetate and aqueous extracts were close to that of the drug orlistat(IC50 146μg/mL).Out of the fractions of the methanolic extract,the chloroform fraction was most active(IC50 189.6μg/mL).The order of inhibitory activity of the fractions was as follows:chloroform>ether>n-butanolic>aqueous>ethyl acetate.The GC/MS analysis of the most active chloroform faction showed the presence of hexadecanoic acid,methyl hexadecanoate,isopropyl palmitate,methyl 9,12-octadecadienate,and methyl 9,12,15-octadecatrienoate.Conclusions:The study suggests that Lagenaria siceraria has potential to inhibit pancreatic lipase activity,suppressing lipid digestion and thereby diminishing entry of lipids into the body.Regular intake of aqueous decoction of the fruit may therefore be recommended for control of obesity.Fatty acids and their esters may play role as inhibitors of lipase.